Satellites Will Be Weaponised

WE HAVE INDIGENOUSLY CREATED STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGIES AND AN ASSOCIATED INDIGENOUS SUPPLY CHAIN TO BUILD SYSTEMS, GROUND INFRASTRUCTURE AND SPACE ASSETS.

HAVING SUCCESSFULLY TESTED an anti-satellite missile system in March, and then coming within 2.1km of soft-landing a rover near the south pole of the moon, our military and space scientists have two creditable achievements this year. Space offers an asymmetrical advantage to nations that can penetrate it, in terms of their capability to fulfil the needs of their people, security of the nations and, ultimately, economic leverage.

Post-World War II, there was a surge in space capabilities in developed nations at the civil and strategic levels. The Soviet Union and the United States took the lead in developing the requisite technologies and industrial base through national policies with a competitive spirit. European nations followed suit, as soon as they recovered from the trauma of the war.

We were not far behind. Driven by the vision of Dr Vikram Sarabhai and the systematic nurturing of mission mode programmes and procedures by Professor Satish Dhawan, India’s space mission has taken major strides. We have indigenously created state-of-the-art technologies and an associated indigenous supply chain to build systems, ground infrastructure and space assets. It is to our credit that all these were achieved in the backdrop of repeated technology sanctions and denial regimes, imposed by the west.

Militarisation of space is the development of weaponry and associated technologies for application in outer space to gain a definite edge over one’s adversaries. The first steps towards militarisation of space were taken soon after the Second World War by the two superpowers, the USSR and the USA. The initial intent was to remotely monitor the enemy’s strategic assets and the technologies they were developing.